Fastener for corsets and analogous articles.



H. L. SIEGEL.

FASIENER FOR census AND ANALoGous ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE II. I9I5.

Patented J uIy 18, 1916.

l y IIIII?,

/ /V I/E N TOR A UUR/VE YS UNTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAROLD L. SIEGEL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO IMLROVED STAY COMPANY, A

i CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1916.

Application filed June 11, 1915. Serial No. 33,434.

To all whom it may concern Be it 'known that I, HAROLD L. Smeer., a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Fastenei` for Corsets and Analogous Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a fastener for retaining in connected relation the adjacent 'edge portions of articles such as apparel, said device being vintended for use, more particularly, in connection with corsets.

The invention pertains to that class of fasteners wherein latches are employed on one member for engagement with headed studs on the companion member, said latches being held normally in an operative position and all of said latches beingy disengaged by the manual operation of a releasing bar.

lOne improvement which I'have made is the construction of a reinforced 'latch housing keeper, a series of whic'hiare employed on one member of the fastener, each keeper being integral with said member by stamping the keeper with the member from a' singlc piece of metal and thereafter the metal of the keeper isv folded o'r doubled upon itself to produce the housing for the' latch. Experience shows that va doubled or folded keeper when subjected to strain and pressure is likely to bend in'suc'hI manner as to release the stud or allow it to "work out of the keeper and latch, but according to my improvement such bending of the keeper is not permissible for the reason that the folded or doubled metal is stayed in such a way as to at all times hold the parts in proper relative positions.

Another improvement consists of a Ilexible, latch carrying and incasing stay composed of two metal pieces, one of which is provided with beveled edges and the other of which is furnished with clips which are bent into lapping relation to and contact with said beveled edges so as to bring the clips into substantially flush relation to the surface of said beveled edge member, whereby the two parts of the stay are securely held or unitedtogether in such manner that the clips are not liable to be caught in the material of the corset or other garments of the wearer.

It is to be understood that the latches, the release bar and the finger-operated member for said release bar, are positioned between the metal pieces composingthe flexible stay aforesaid so that all these parts are substantially housed or incased by the metal pieces, it` being evident, furthermore, 'that the latches are operatively positioned with respect to the keepers and, further, that a part of the linger-operated member is exposed for convenient access.

` l have found that the finger operated member is apt Vto be moved accidentally during the `service of a corset, thus releasing the latches from the studs and opening the corset. To preclude such undesirable operation, I employ a locking device normally in locking relation to the linger operated member for retaining the latter, the release bar and the latches rin their operative positions. T his locking deviceis spring actuated and positioned for easy access; but in the ordinary service of the corset it is necessary for the wearer to shift the'locking device out of the path of the finger-operated'member, and to thereafter move the latter member in order" to disengage the latches from the studs, whereby Vthe locking device adds to the security of the fastening so that the latter cannot be opened except by the manual operation of two parts, one of which is the locking device an'd the other the finger-operated member.

` ln the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation, partly broken away, illustrating a flexible stav embodying'my improvements. said stay being shown full size, and a part of the stay being omitted. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 of Fig. 1 through one of the keepers,the scale of the figure being enlarged as compared with the full siie device shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a cross section lon an enlarged scale through the stay and a part of the keeper, the plane of the section being indicated by the dotted line 3-3` of Fig.l 1. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the locking device for the fingeroperated member, said locking device being removed from the stay.`

'V The stay shown in Fig. l is composed, mainly, of two longitudinal members 10, l1, each consisting of a single length of tiexible metal. Thev metal piece composing the memberVV l0 is providedv at its respective edges with clips 12 which are bent or folded into lapping engagement with the edge portions ofthe member l1, and in order to secure the desired flush relation of said clips 12 with said member 11, the latter is provided with longitudinal bevels 13 at each edge thereof. The clips serve to confine the member 11 in parallel relation to the member 10, the end portions of said clips being in contact with the bevels 13 of the member 11, so that the clips are flush, or substantially so, with said member 11, all as shown more clearly 1n Fig. 3. In addition to the two series of clips, the member 1() is provided with two ,series of distance studs or tubular rivets 14, and said stay member is furthermore provided with integral keepers 15, the metal composing the keepers being in one piece with the metal composing the member 10. It will be understood that the member 10 is provided with a proper number of keepers, and, further, that these keepers are spaced at suitable intervals along the edge portion of said member 10, although Fig. 1 of the drawings shows the flexible stay as having three keepers only. Each keeper is composed of a single piece of metal which is doubled or folded upon itself, as shown more particularly in Fig. 3, one part 15a of the keeper being in the plane of the member 10, whereas the other part 15b of said keeper is `doubled or folded into parallel relation to the part 15a. The keeper is provided with a slot 16 into which is received the headed stud on a stay adapted to cooperate with the stay shown in Fig. 1, but as the stay with the headed stud is an old feature in this art, I have not considered it necessary or desirable to illustrate the same.

Experience shows that a keeper composed of metal folded upon itself is liable to bend or crush in the actual use of the fastener to such an extent that the headed Stud will work loose from the keeper, and, in order to preclude relative displacement between the parts 15a 15b composing the keeper, I profide means adapted to act as a stay for the folded part 15b constituting one element of said keeper. The part 15a is provided with lips 17 and is provided, also, with a flange 18, said lip 17 and flange 18 being illustrated more particularly in connection with the upper keeper of Fig. 1, and shown in cross section in the keeper of Fig. 2. It will be understood that the lips and the flange are struck up from the metal composing the keeper part 15a during the operation of stamping the metal of the member 10 and the keeper, and when the part 15b is folded upon the part 15a the edges of said part 15b are in contact with the lips 17 and the flange 18, whereby the lips and the flange act as stays for the folded keeper part 15". Furthermore, this keeper part 15b is provided with webs 19 extending outwardly from the side edges of the keeper part 15". In other words, part 15b is wider next to the stay than it is at the outer end of the keeper.

The webs 19 of the keeper part are engaged by the clips 12 adjacent to the keeper, and thus the clips operate to stay the wide inner end of the keeper part 15b, all as will be apparent by reference to the two lower keepers in Fig. 1.

By folding the part 15b upon the part 15L in order to produce the keeper, a space is left between the two keeper parts, which space accommodates a latch 20, the beak of which fits around one lip 17 and extends across the slot 1G of the keeper. This latch is struck up from a single piece of metal with a spring 21, said latch being pivotally connected to the member' 1() of the flexible stay by one of the tubular rivets or distance studs 14, whereas the spring 21 of the latch is in contact with another of the distance studs, see Fig. 1, whereby the latch is operated by a spring so as to close the latch across the entrance to the slot 16 of the keeper.

The latches are pivoted independently of each other between the members 10, 11 of the flexible stay, each latch being actuated by a single spring. The latches are released simultaneously by the operation of a sliding bar 22, said bar being provided with fingers 23 extending into cooperative relation to the latches, as shown in Fig. 1. The sliding release bar is incased between the members 1() and 11, as shown in Fig.A 3, and it is retained in position between one series of clips 12 and the distance studs 14 adjacent thereto. The release bar is provided at its upper end with a shoulder 23 with which engages a shoulder 24 and a finger operated member 25. Said mem-ber is pivoted at one of the distance studs 14, the member being provided with a slot 26 in which fts another of the distance studs 14.

Cooperating with the finger-operated member is a locking device 27, the same being shown in applied position by Fig. 1, and in detail by Fig. 4. This locking device is provided with an angular shoulder 28 adapted to engage with a shoulder 29 of the finger-operated member, whereby the locking device prevents movement of the member 25 when the shoulder 28 of said locking device is in engagement with the shoulder 29 of the member 25. The locking device is provided with a spring 30 and with an aperture 31, said locking device having a pressure arm 32. The locking device is positioned between the members 10 and 11 for one of the distance studs 14 to enter the aperture 31, thus pivotally connecting the locking device to the member 10. The spring 30 of the locking device is in contact with a part of the member 10, such as one of the clips 12, whereby the spring normally positions the locking device for the shoulder 28 thereof to engage with the shoulder 29 of the member 25. The locking device thus restrains the member from movement, but when it is desired to release the latches by the sliding' movement of the bar 22, the operator presses on the piece so as to turn the locking device on its pivot and against the tension of its spring, thereby withdrawing the shoulder 28 from the path of the shoulder 2f), after which the locking device is held in a retracted position, whereupon the operator should press on the linger-operated member Q5 in order to turn said member on the pivotal connection 14, whereby the member 25 imparts sliding movement to the bar 22, the fingers 23 of which are moved into contact with the latch 20 for the purpose of withdrawing said latches out of engagement with the headed studs in order that the studded stay may be withdrawn from the latch carrying stay.

The operation and advantages of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description taken iu connection with the drawings.

lla ving thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a fastener of the class described, a flexible stay comprisingparallel members one of which is provided with clips which frictioually engage with the other member, said clips being substantially flush with said latter member, a plurality of keepers on one of said members, latches pivoted between the members and cooperating with the keepers, and means for actuating said latches.

2. In a fastener of the class described, a flexible stay comprising parallel members one of which is provided with beveled edges and the other having two series of clips and a plurality of keepers` said clips of one member being positioned in contact with the beveled edges of the other member and in substantially flush relation to the surface of said other member` latches pivoted between the members and cooperating with the keepers. and means for actuating said latches.

il. In a fastener of the class described, a stay provided with a plurality of slotted keepers each of which is composed of a piece of metal folded upon itself. one part of said folded keeper being provided with members positioned for contact with the other folded part and acting as a brace therefor, and a latch pivoted to the stayand partially incased within the folded keeper.

l. In a fastener of the class described, a stay provided with a plurality of slotted keepers each of which is composed of a piece of metal folded upon itself, said metal of the keeper being slotted and provided on 011e part thereof with lips and a flange positioned for contact with the other part of the keeper when the latter is folded over the first named part so that the lips and flange act as braces for the folded part, and a latch pivoted to the stay and partially incased within the folded keeper.

In a fastener of the class described, a stay provided with a series of keepers each provided with a slot extending through that end portion thereof which is distant from said stay, each keeperl being composed of metal folded upon itself to produce two parts one of which is provided with a member positioned to act as a brace for precluding bending of the two parts relatively to each other, combined with latches operating to close the entrances to the slotted keepers.

G. In a fastener of the class described, the combination with a stay provided with a series of keepers, of a finger operated member pivoted to the stay, latches cooperating with the keepers, a release bar having means for operating the latches, said release bar being operated by the movement of the finger operated member, and a pivoted locking member having locking engagement with the finger operated member for restraining the latter from movement.

7 In a fastener of the class described, the combination with a stay provided with a series of keepers, of a finger operated member pivoted to the stay, latches cooperating with the keepers, a release bar having means for operating the latches, said release bar being operated by the movement of the finger operated member, and a spring actuated locking member pivoted to the stay and p0- sitioned normally for locking engagement with the finger operated member, said locking member being shiftable at will from con tact with said finger operated member.

In testimony whereof I have subscribed my name to this specification.

HAROLD L. SIEGEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

